Corrugated paperboard is typically used in many different applications, for example, to form boxes, cartons, or dividers for holding, storing or shipping various items. To use the corrugated paperboard for these purposes, it is necessary to be able to bend a corrugated paperboard blank to form corners and walls. Typically, the corrugated paperboard is scored with an indentation or cut line. Paperboards are most often manipulated by automated machines in a continuous in-line process involving cutting, scoring and molding continuous sheets of paperboard into blanks of a desired configuration. The paperboard is then folded along the score or cut line to form a corner. The blanks may be folded into a container by an automated machine, or by a consumer, along the score lines into a box, carton, or other container.
Most score lines are typically created from a single impression or cut line. However, folding along a single line is a problematic, occasionally difficult procedure, allowing for uneven folds, bulging appearance, and consumer frustration. Other score lines have a V-shaped appearance, created by routing (cutting by removing material) a V-shaped channel through a multi-ply paperboard. The V-shaped channel improves the bendability of paperboard by increasing the ease and consistency of folding. However, formation of the channel through routing is a slow, noisy and dusty procedure that generates large amounts of useless paperboard debris.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a more efficient method for forming a bendable corrugated paperboard with less debris, and a paperboard with improved bendability.